


fate's promises

by tomlinseason



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - School, Fate & Destiny, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt, M/M, Young Harry, Young Louis, but yeah, i dont know, i still dont know, most of this is cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:07:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomlinseason/pseuds/tomlinseason
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>so fate has this plan made up, and it goes well sometimes, but usually it doesn't. or an AU where harry is a year younger and that basically ruins everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fate's promises

there was daylight.  
he looked up. he stopped walking. and there was a house.  
it was a house he’d never seen before, which was strange. because harry had always taken this route back home from school. and this was the first time he’d seen it before.  
the wind began to pick up.  
harry dropped his backpack and trudged towards the house. and as he stepped closer, he could make out more of it’s detail. it was beared with old, dusty wood, splinters included. it’s windows were hardly transparent, and had thick layers of dirt on them. it must’ve been at least three stories high, and the roof had been falling apart and raining on part of it’s yard. the plants around it were mortifyingly dead, and a sickening aroma was drifting from the house.  
harry stepped up, each stair creaking with every drop of weight.  
he stopped at the porch, and saw an old rocking chair in the corner, with a burnt-orange colored pillow sitting arenose and stiffly. harry saw a window next to the door, and brought his knuckles up to rap against the door.  
upon hearing no reply, he leaned his head into the window, cuffed his hands around his eyes, and glanced inside. he saw nothing. it was opaquely pitch-black.  
and then harry felt a slam against the glass, shattering in front of his eyes, impact forcefully pushing him against the forehead, and he trampled backwards, until he couldn’t feel ground. and harry was falling off the porch. he was wincing, and pressing a hand against his face because he could feel bleeding. and his other hand was outstretched behind him, failing-ly attempting to protect him from his fall. but he never hit ground.  
so harry opened his eyes.  
and harry wasn’t in daylight anymore. but, somehow, harry was on the ground. and harry wasn’t bleeding. so harry looks around, and it’s pitch-black, just like inside the house. and harry can’t see anything.  
but in the distance, he can see a light standing tall above the ground. a lamppost, he thinks. so harry stands up, and wobbling-ly kicks his way to the light. and the ground is oddly flat; completely flat with no bumps whatsoever. so harry runs.  
and below the lamppost, there’s a silhouette, who becomes a boy as harry nears him. and harry thinks he’s his age, or maybe in the third grade, and he wants to say hi.  
so as harry approaches the boy, he says, “hey!” and the boy smiles widely before repeating his greeting back to harry. and harry kind of likes his voice.  
the boy, with blue eyes and nice brown hair, turns around and runs off. before harry can scream for him to come back, he’s back. with harry’s backpack. he drops it in front of harry’s feet. and harry says, “thank you,” dumbfoundedly. and the boy asks, “what’s your name?” and harry replies, “harry, h-a-r-r-y.” and the boy kind of laughs and says, “i’m louis, l-o-u-i-s.” and harry, stunned, repeats, “s?” and louis says, “yeah, italian or french or something.”  
harry nods and says, “where are we?” and louis replies, “under a lamppost,” and laughs. and harry likes his laugh, too. and harry has so many questions but he silently becomes more and more infatuated with louis. but louis doesn’t seem to notice. and then, louis turns around and runs off. this time, he doesn’t return.   
so harry decides to sleep. he lays down, head on his backpack, too afraid to move into the pitch-black darkness, and sleeps.  
and when harry wakes up, it’s daylight again.

the next time they see each other, it’s three years later. long after harry has convinced himself it was a dream, and louis wasn’t real.  
but across the library, there’s louis again, blue-eyed and soft hair. and he knows it’s him. so he instinctively walks towards his table, and sits down, noticing that he’s reading Game of Thrones.  
louis slightly moves his lips (wow they’re plush) silently along with the words he’s reading and pauses, putting his finger on the word he left off on. he looks up, and harry thinks he’s kind of pretty. and harry asks, “what’s your name?” and he replies warily, “louis.” and harry asks, “with an ‘s’ on the end?” and louis nods confusedly. and harry doesn’t think he remembers him, and he’s kind of disappointed and upset. but when harry sadly offers, “-french or something?” louis’ eyes flash brighter and his beautiful smile appears. and harry grins, his dimples peeking out, and he’s happy again.  
they find out that they go to different elementary schools but will go to the same middle school and high school. and louis is in sixth grade and harry is in fifth grade. and they sort of become best friends for an hour. but they never discuss what happened three years prior, but neither of them actually know what happened, so it doesn’t really matter. they both keep it stored in their minds as a dream. that’s all that’s believable, it wouldn’t make sense if it actually happened, but then how did they know each other? it’s too confusing for two kids in elementary school. so after promising they’ll see each other in middle school, they never talk again.

until two years later, it’s the second day of school for harry and his class, and the eighth graders are finally joining the school for the school year. after his second period, he’s already been called a ‘sevie’ thrice and he just wants to go home. he’s never liked school, or had a lot of friends. he’s smart and all, but he feels like it’s just a place to expose how lonely he is.  
when it’s time for lunch, harry finds out that its a lunch with both grades, and he decides against sitting alone, and goes into the boys’ bathroom. he blatantly walks into a stall, but oh. it’s louis. sitting on the toilet, with his lunch bag in his lap, eating a sandwich.  
harry utters, “oops,” and feels his cheeks go hot. it’d be less awkward if they didn’t know each other. “hi,” louis says acutely, his own cheeks glowing pink. and before harry can hastily escape the scene, louis says, “would you like to eat with me?” and harry agrees.  
so they go to the hallway and eat, and before it can get awkward, louis bursts, “i have other friends though, i just couldn’t find them.” harry nods, but he doesn’t really mind. whatever the excuse is, he’s just glad louis is sitting with him again. and harry says how much he hates being a seventh grader and louis tries to assure him that it gets better after the first week. and harry makes louis promise to never call him a ‘sevie’ and louis laughs (harry still loves his laugh) but complies anyway.   
throughout the year, harry and louis become best friends and are extremely affectionate towards each other. they hold hands and kiss each others’ cheeks when they’re not in school, and they always sit with each other at lunch in the hallway. harry finds out later that louis doesn’t actually have many friends, but it’s okay because harry doesn’t either.  
one day, louis tells harry that he’s gonna try out for the soccer team, because he loves soccer and used to play it, and he thinks he’ll earn some friends from it. and harry tells him that he’ll be cheering him on in the stands at his first game.  
and two weeks later, louis gets news that he’s on the team, and him and harry celebrate together by having a pizza night (and maybe they end up snuggled up on the couch watching a horrible rom-com but).

it’s december and louis’ birthday was rapidly approaching and harry had been working and saving money to buy louis a gift for over 6 weeks now. he knew what louis wanted and it was rather expensive, as all video games are, but he knows louis’ mom won’t get it for him, so he might as well.  
so it’s december 20th, and louis decides that it’s the closest day he can bargain for for a birthday party. yes, /party/, as in more than just louis and harry. as in louis’ new “friends” from his soccer team, nick and stan. harry doesn’t like them very much, but if they make louis happy, he doesn’t really care.  
and so harry and louis are cleaning louis’ house so it’s not /completely/ a mess when they arrive. and right before they arrive, harry goes upstairs into louis’ room to make sure his gift is where he left it, untouched. and, ah, yes, it is. harry can’t wait for louis to open it and smile and hug harry and, oh, the bell rung. so harry turns around and exits the room and heads downstairs.   
but the second he gets down there, there’s a groan followed by, “you invited him?” and harry kind of shrinks back, looking too young and innocent for even a seventh grader. and in an annoyance-filtered tone, stan adds, “why is he here?” and louis looks so lost and torn and okay, that hurts. because louis should be defending him right now, not contemplating on which side to choose. but harry understands so he decides it’d be best if he just left. he doesn’t want to put louis under pressure and he can just see him tomorrow. but then louis says, “i didn’t invite him, i just had to babysit the little sevie.” and, ouch. well, louis just broke the promise to never call him a sevie, and he didn’t think louis would ever give in to peer pressure /that/ badly. but, ouch, okay. so harry smiles and plays along, “yeah, i’m just going home. i won’t come back.” and hopefully louis understands what he actually means when he says that. and harry sees the way louis shrinks back shyly, disappointed in himself, and again lost. but harry has no pity. harry shrieks a fake, plastered smile and goes upstairs to grab louis’ gift. he hears murmurs before there’s feet running up the stairs and in bounds louis. and louis has his eyebrows raised in a frown, and he’s uttering apologies and apologies. but harry isn’t listening, he hears ‘little sevie’ play over in his head over and over again in louis’ pretty voice. harry retrieves louis’ present and looks at louis, who seems to be frustrated and angry at /harry/ right now. harry tunes into what he’s saying and hears, “but you can’t actually be mad at me, are you?” and harry calmly states, “i meant what i said. don’t talk to me at school, or at all, actually,” and pushes roughly past an idle louis, leaving his life, /again/.  
and when harry sees louis at lunch in january, he doesn’t look happy with his soccer friends. but when louis sees harry, louis pretends to suddenly be happy with his friends. harry decides that he doesn’t care.  
after being partnered with niall horan, a low-maintenance, funny student in his grade, they sort of befriend each other. and they end up being almost-best friends throughout middle school. it’s a distraction from louis, and niall is good at distracting.  
and niall ends up distracting harry all throughout high school, too.  
and then about six years after they had their fall out, blue and green eyes meet again. harry had graduated high school a few months ago, and was in university and worked at the coffee shop a few blocks from campus. louis had dropped out of school, wanting to pursue something with football or acting, and lived with his friend stan (only because stan pays rent and louis is kind of unemployed right now so).  
it’s winter with a snow storm outside and they’re at the coffee shop harry works at, and harry is carrying two drinks to a table, when, oh. he kind of crashes into louis and spills some hot beverage on both their shirts (and okay, maybe fate is literally /screaming/ for them to get together but).  
“oops!” harry sheepishly smiles, hoping his clumsiness didn’t anger someone. and louis recognizes him first this time, and, well, he’s stunned. harry is kind of gorgeous with a pretty smile and his jaw line is kind of perfectly sharpened and /wow/ his eyes are beautiful. “hi,” louis says, still in blatant shock. and harry just rushes to be polite and offers louis a free drink and says he’ll get him a towel but louis just wants harry to shut up and remember him. and louis says, “it’s okay, it’s okay.” but harry has different plans and goes behind the counter and asks what louis orders. and so louis obliges and tells him but then harry grabs a sharpie and asks, “what’s your name?” and louis kind of perks up and says, “louis, l-o-u-i-s.” and harry kind of stops everything and stares at the cup, repeating louis’ name. and when it clicks, a bell rings (no, a literal bell rings, like, someone just opened the door and the bell rung) and harry looks up at him. and there is a stupid (but pretty), dimpled grin and it’s kind of cliche but harry /has/ to.   
“french or something?”

and so basically after they stayed at the coffee shop for three hours after harry’s shift, harry offers louis to come home with him (as he lives alone in an apartment apparently) and louis agrees. and so they sit on harry’s couch and talk about things and how they’re doing and then-  
“i’m sorry for what i did,” louis says, kind of playing with his own hands. and it takes a moment for harry to remember, but when he does his eyes doe a bit and become a few shades softer. “hey, it’s okay, it’s long forgotten.” and louis is more defiant when he speaks up saying, “it’s not okay, and i really hope you know how much i regret what i said. i broke a promise and i traded you for shitty friends. and i’m sorry.” harry sort of looks at his lap and nods before saying, “i forgive you, louis, it’s okay.” and before louis has time to get fluffy and sentimental (even though he has) he blurts out with, “but what was my present?” and harry laughs a beautiful laugh (okay maybe he should stop thinking his friend is gorgeous but) and says, “it was the fifa game you wanted.” and louis’ heart swells because, wasn’t that expensive for broke teenagers? and harry adds answeringly, “i may have spent over a month earning money for it,” with a laugh.  
and basically, louis has had it. he leans over and kisses harry on the /mouth/, not the cheek this time. and so he’s kind of in love with harry, because he’s lovely to him and, well lovely to everybody, but he’s just lovely. and he loves him. and he’s being really stupid but he’s so in love so it doesn’t really matter (and fate is basically partying right now). and harry kisses back and it’s wonderful and he tastes like sweetened coffee and he leans in and kind of pushes his tongue into harry’s mouth a bit, and it’s perfect and he loves it and he loves /him/.

so afterwards, stan kicks louis out because he’s gay and he pays rent anyways. but harry kindly takes louis into his own apartment with louis promising harry he’ll pay him back. and louis tries harder to find a job for harry. and the near future, louis finds a full-time job that pays well, so he can pay at least half of the apartment rent.

and well, they still don’t have many friends, but they’re best friends. so it’s enough. and louis wishes he would’ve realized that sooner, but. it’s okay. and it’s perfect. because he loves him.

and it was just fate's story.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! (:


End file.
